Phoenix Steamworks

[persianmouse]

Glowing liquid passes through the fogged retorts of ancient alembics, sparks fly from behind a massive workbench, and a cloud of thick incense smoke hangs low, all casting strange and surreal flashes of light and shadow on tall bolted-steel walls. The chug and hum of gargantuan machines echo through the chamber.

Burnished gold and oiled bronze notes with Abramelin incense and sage.

Ooooo....Well, I wasn't sure where else to put this, so I thought unreleased will do for now.

First Impression: It's metallic, but the incense and sage provide a very nice organic background to it. It's like....an abandoned factory that's become overgrown, and a lot of the windows and doors are busted out allowing the air in, it doesn't feel stuffy or closed. Reminds me of Mechanical Phoenix a little bit, but like it's cool, mysterious, bad-ass older brother. Who has a bitchin' coat. And could kick your ass.

On the skin: Just gets better on. Definitely not as cologney as Mechanical Phoenix.

I'll have to see how it wears during the day, but if it stays this nice, this will definitely become one of my regular scents. Oh, I hope all the Steampunk scents are as nice as this one.

[delicate_fangs]

Just got mine this morning. Woo!

 

Steamworks is... definitely cologney on me. It's very nice, a metallic tang to it, some ozone in it, and some nice middle notes that I can't identify. Unfortunately, my skin chemistry is taking it in a direction that doesn't work, so I suspect my bottle with be used to enable friends, or be swapped to somebody who will adore it -- and I am sure there will be many, because this is a very good, very complex scent.

 

I'd be disappointed, but the shirt is so gorgeous that I can't even be unhappy about the oil not being a match for my skin chemistry.

 

Addendum: Or I might just have to age it. I wonder how this one mellows down as time passes. Could be great later.

Edited April 5, 2008 by delicate_fangs

[ravenfeathers]

in the bottle certainly metallic, but warm and undeniably golden. very cologne-y in a good way

wet on skin this is the more aggressive, more butch version of et lux fuit to me. it's golden and glowing and just amazingly warm.

dry on skin not a morpher, this stays gold and gorgeous. the sage gives it a slightly soapy feel on me, but it's tucked way, way down under the metallic luminescence.

 

this is SO gorgeous, quite formal and elegant, but somehow gritty, too. phoenix steamworks might be too fancy for little ol' me, but i'm going to try to pull it off anyway. spectacular.

[ophidiae]

I was a bit leery of trying Phoenix Steamworks since Mechanical Phoenix did not work very well for me, and the two are similar in style. I should not have worried.

 

Phoenix Steamworks is a sharp, clean scent, like metal polished to a high gloss. I can't pick out the individual notes, but I have not been able to stop sniffing my wrists since I put it on. Yes, it is reminiscent of a man's cologne, but a subtle, elegant one.

 

Definitely a masculine scent, and one that would be equally at home in the workshop as well as an elegant formal dinner party. If the rest of the Steampunk line is this good, I am going to be in deep, deep trouble.

Edited April 5, 2008 by ophidiae

[slave1]

PHOENIX STEAMWORKS

 

In Bottle: Clean and airy

 

On Skin: Wow, this is freaking GORGEOUS! It is so clean, feminine and perfumey. Mechanical Phoenix was much more dirty: oil and tarnished metal. Whereas here, Steamworks is clean, shiny and bright. The incense gives a nice seductive background, and the herbal sage gives it a slightly sharp tone. This scent is very perfumey and very much feminine in my opinion. Like elegant metal, if that’s possible. To me Mechanical Phoenix is the male’s counterpart to this female’s version. I will be wearing this a lot. And the shirt I ordered with it has to be one of the coolest shirts ever. I only wish I had the clockwork scent locket… Strong throw and long wearlength.

[FallDaze]

Wow am I so glad that I got this oil!

 

In the bottle, it reminds me a lot of Mechanical Phoenix, except brighter. In the bottle I don't get any of the incense or sage, just a bright, metallic scent.

 

On, for the first few minutes it was exactly like in the bottle, masculine and metallic, not in a bad way though.

 

After a few minutes, the sage and incense became more pronounced. The end effect is gorgeous! The metallic notes blend so beautifully with the sage. The sage and incense actually tone down the masculinity of the scent and make it more feminine and lovely. This scent reminds me of burnished gold. It seems like it would be a nice scent to wear on a hot summer day, which is just what I'm looking for right now!

 

Phoenix Steamworks is definitely a keeper for me

[Summerpixy]

Sharp, masculine and metallic. I normally wear more feminine scents so I can't see myself getting a lot of use out of this unless it mellows with age. I'll have to see if the boyfriend likes it enough to try it, as I think this would be awesome on a man.

[jbzoellner]

At first sniff in the bottle, it's all gorgeous yummy golden-y incense, YUM...

 

Wet, it's a little more "perfume" and less incense...

 

Dry, it turns floral????????? can't be, must be some weird skin chemistry thing going on, I'll try it again on another day and immediately after a shower to make sure that the massive amounts of baby wipes and hand sanitizer haven't screwed up my nose

[Ravenclaw79]

I got a mellow, golden perfume out of this one -- perfumey, is the best way to put it, I think. There's a hint of bronze in there (like one penny tossed in the perfume kettle), but other than that, I don't really smell much in the way of specific notes. It's not sharp or floral to me, though. Not bad, but not wonderful.

[YoakeNoKami]

In the Bottle: Metallic; sweet, with a hint of sage. Hello, sage.

 

On/wet: Nom nom. Still sweet, slightly less metallic, though. The sweetness might be incense, but I'm not entirely sure. The sage is floating around in there somewhere, but generally this is sweetly golden.

 

Drydown: This has got to be one of the most subtly gorgeous things I have ever worn. It's still got that metallic note to in, but it's like well-loved, well-cared-for, sunlit and polished metal. There's a gentle sweetness to the entire thing, a distantly warm brightness that could be coming from the incense, and there's the lovely sage to keep the entire thing from being too far-flown. It's got lovely wear for me, too-- I put this on about twelve hours ago, and still that gentle sweetness lingers.

 

Final thoughts: Quiet but stately, dignified, serious... but lit by odd and brilliantly sweet turns of mind, and born of quietly amused thought, manic creation, wistful revision--one who loves the possibilities of the world simply for existing. This is the inventor who lives for the joy of invention and the thrill of the work, one who thrives in the quiet hours of darkness and the golden, sunlit mornings where the light catches in the airborn dust of the workshop and makes it glow in a million different ways... This is beautiful.

[scarletgenesis]

Atlantian spires

host arcane rituals and

scientific feats

 

In the bottle, Phoenix Steamworks is faintly metallic, with mostly incense. Once on my skin, it's like I rubbed copper and gold all over my arms. The metal is definitely there but it's a soft, warm metal, not teeth-achingly cold metal. Sage and incense blend together to give this an overgrown green feeling to it.

 

I get very specific images with this blend. An old civilization, with gold-topped, crumbling buildings. The city has practically been taken over by the surrounding vegetation, the vines and trees growing into and througout the ruined architecture...and in the center of it all, a scientist has set up his lab inside the remains of a cathedral.

 

 

 

I love this, and am in BIG trouble if all the Steampunk blends work on me this well. But I already knew that!

Edited April 8, 2008 by scarletgenesis

[Chapanis]

In the bottle: sharp sage and slighty metallic warm scent.

Wet on skin: same as in bottle, but sage isn't as sharp and the metallic is more polished gold.

Dry on skin: Mmmmm... warm smooth sage and polished gold with light, not sweet, vanilla lingering in the background.

 

I like this one very much and am exceited to see what else Beth has in store for us with this collection!

[Sushi-n-Sake]

In bottle: Clean, ozone, cologne

Wet: This reminds me of something I already have - probably Thunder Moon. It's all ozone and men's cologne at this stage, with maybe some sage lingering around. I agree with the reviewer who stated that this is a sharp, clean scent.

Drydown: Now I am starting to smell the clean oil and metals. It reminds me of a well-lubricated brass hinge. The cologne has moved further back and I'm picking up some kind of floral - maybe that's the incense. It's strong - a little goes a long way.

Later: Much the same as in the drydown, but the oil and metals have faded. The wearlength is extremely long - 14+ hours and I can still detect it.

Verdict: It's a bit more ozone-y and cologne-y than I like, but the man likes it, so it's a keeper!

[Lethran]

In bottle: Men’s cologne, glorious incense, sage. Wet: insensey perfume, with a hint of something darker. It is like a very femme red moon. I am surprised there is no musk in it. Dry: Sweet incense with perfume. Disappointing on me, but likely cool on someone else with less natural musk in eir skin chemistry. This one’s a heartbreaker as it smells so good.

[mechangel]

As soon as I put this on I liked it, but it smelled a little powdery to me. I couldn't remember what it was SUPPOSED to smell like then after looking at the description I realized it was the incense I thought was powdery.

 

 

I worked up a little bit of a sweat working in the yard and my skin heated the scent up and it wasn't anything close to powdery anymore.

 

Metal and sage are what I smell now.

 

Its really really good.

[DifferentDances]

Bottle: Aquatic ozone with a hint of warmed florals.

Wet: Oceanic sagey incense.

Drydown: Faint ozone with that fresh sagey edge.

Dry: Warmed sage ozone.

 

Not rating this one...I think it needs to be re-tested when I'm no longer on my period.

[alicia_stardust]

Phoenix Steamworks starts out as a soft men's cologne, but as it settles and dries it loses that edge. From there, it becomes more of a gleaming metallic scent with a blanket of sage over it. The incense peeks in and out of the gleaming metals until, a few hours later, the scent has faded off into a memory. I would consider this a unisex blend with a large amount of throw. It's completely unique and successfully captures the essence of steampunk. What a perfect teaser.

[savage_rose]

This smells so sweet and mellow on me...it is a surprisingly relaxing blend. There's a hint of metal, but it's certainly not the dominant scent. Very nice.

[hkhm]

bottle: very metallic, like a men's cologne with lots of sage.

 

wet: far more lovely wet, the sage and incense drown out the metallic tang and make this more soft and sinuous.

 

dry: this has a clean, almost sweet, drydown. it's almost an aquatic but stops just short. so glad i took a chance and ordered it.

[Rovylern]

I can't pick out individual notes in this, but it smells exactly like a bottle of perfume I had as a child. It came in a bottle shaped like a lamb and it was called Topaz. No idea who made it, but this is an exact dupe for it. I'm not sure how often I'll wear it, but this really takes me back.

[Moribund]

I was curious about this, but didn't expect it to work well on me. However, I was totally mistaken! The scent mellows out very nicely on my skin, with the warmth of the incense and the sage coming out and melding nicely with my normal skin-scent. I don't notice any of the metal when I wear it. My boyfriend adores it on me, which is always a good thing for a scent, too...

[Eemia]

Very mellow and sort of slick. It has the tinge of metallic but nothing that I would call sharp or tangy. Feels glowing and very warm. There is a depth that reminds me of musk, but it's clean and light. I can smell some sweet greenness in there that adds softness, so that must be the sage.

 

I did think it had a bit of a masculine scent to it but nothing overtly so. I like masculine fragrances that aren't obviously masculine, if that makes any sense. Something along the same lines as His Station and Four Aces, which is masculine but in a subtle way. That's one that I can wear anytime and not even have to think about it, because it always smells good to me. This one is the same sort--I could wear this anytime and not have to consider it at all. I'm actually pretty thrilled with this one, and I'm so happy that it works on my skin. I never thought I'd appreciate anything in the metallic range but this has changed my mind.

[iiinterstate]

I really did not expect to like this at all... metallic notes seemed like a stretch, even though I like unusual scents.

 

I have no idea what gold is supposed to smell like...but this smells like gold anyway. It starts out with just the metallic notes mixed with incense which is nice and gender neutral, but as it dries, there's a very nice sweetness that comes out and makes Phoenix Steamworks decidedly feminine.

 

For me, this is a nice blend, but my fiance LOOOOVES it and wants me to wear it on special nights out. His words: "Now you smell like a real perfume instead of some strange fruit concoction!"

 

 

Looks like a keeper.

[phedre]

This is absolutely beautiful on me. I was a little scared of it in the bottle at first, the metallic notes were worrying, but on the skin it morphs into an elegant, rich scent, with floral top notes and a nicely balanced blend of incense and sage to keep things grounded. It's extremely feminine, with no hint of the cologne others are getting.

[heartlilly]

This starts off very clean and crisp smelling and just a touch masculine. Once it dries it sweetens up, but maintains its slightly cologney edge, but only for a short while. It smells almost golden and clean and very sweet on my skin (but in a soft kind of way). Despite its colongney start, it ends up being very feminine on me. It is really beautiful.